


A Nose for Trouble

by StarshipHufflebadger



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Blood, F/M, Fluff, Funny, Injury, Saltiness, meet ugly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 11:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13763367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarshipHufflebadger/pseuds/StarshipHufflebadger
Summary: Inspired by a prompt on a list of “Meet ugly” prompts  - “You punched me in the face while gesticulating wildly to a friend” AU.





	A Nose for Trouble

              It was an absolutely beautiful summer afternoon, and you smiled as you stepped out into the sunlit quad after your last lecture for the day.  You’d just gotten your midterm results back and were quite pleased with them, so there was a spring in your step as you began to stroll across the busy area, arms wrapped around your books and a small, satisfied smile on your face.  You were daydreaming as you walked, not noticing you were following one of your classmates and his friend.  Eventually their conversation drifted back to you and you started to listen once you’d recognized that the guy walking directly in front of you sat behind you in one of your classes.

 

                “Bones, it’s one question,” your classmate’s friend reasoned, walking sideways so he could look directly at his friend.  “Does it really matter?  You got a 98.”

 

                “It’s the principle of it,” your classmate, Leonard, grumbled.  “He wanted us to explain the oxygen cascade, so I did.”

 

                “You wrote two pages, Bones,” Leonard’s friend said with amusement.  “Didn’t you say the question was worth like three marks?”

 

                “Again, that’s not the point, Jim,” Leonard retorted, and you held back a small giggle at the annoyed look on his face, still walking unnoticed behind them.  You’d gotten three out of three on that question and had only written a couple of lines; it made you wonder how in depth Leonard must have gone to have written so much.  “He got all the information he wanted; just much more in-depth and detailed.  How could I have known he wanted something _so_ simplistic?”   Jim snatched the test Leonard was whipping around while he spoke and rifled through the pages until he found the question, forcing you to match their pace behind them as they slowed down.

 

                “It says “give a _simple_ explanation of the oxygen cascade”,” Jim read, then grinned at Leonard.  “I’m guessing going into exact measurements and paragraph-long explanations of each step isn’t quite what he was asking for.”

 

                “I shouldn’t even have to take this class,” Leonard said grumpily, ignoring Jim’s amusement.  “I learned all of this years ago, I’m a doc—”

 

                “Yeah, yeah, we know; you’re a doctor,” Jim said cheerfully, clapping Leonard on the shoulder.

 

                You lost thread of their conversation as a group of chattering students pushed between you, forcing you to stop for a moment.  One of the girls in the group waved at you and called a greeting so you answered her, quickly forgetting about Leonard and Jim ahead of you.  You paused to check the time on your communicator after your friend had wandered off, slipped the device back into your pocket and continued on in the direction you’d been going, breathing in the warm air and sighing contentedly.  You noticed that Jim and Leonard had stopped just ahead and angled yourself to move around them, aiming to skirt Leonard at the edge of the sidewalk where the pavement met the grass.

 

                Leonard, meanwhile, was mostly unaware of his surroundings as he stewed in his bad mood.  It wasn’t that he was upset about getting a near-perfect score rather than a perfect one, it was just the principle of the matter.  He articulated this once again to Jim, who was clearly amused rather than sympathetic and began to tease him about being a perfectionist.

 

                “It’s not being a perfectionist to expect the marks for a correct answer,” Leonard protested, shaking his head as Jim laughed.  “Even if I wrote him a damn—” Leonard cut himself off in surprise as the back of his wildly gesticulating hand suddenly hit something solid.   His brain catching up with his senses, he realized that whatever he’d hit had felt warm, and a yelp filled his ears as he whirled around, his eyes wide.   He watched in horror as you toppled, faster than he could catch you, though he did lurch forward and try.

 

                You slipped on the grass and though you tried, you couldn’t keep your footing.  With another yelp, you fell over and hit the ground hard on your rear end and back, your books and PADD flying in different directions upon impact.  Letting out a groan of pain, you clamped a hand over your nose and struggled to sit up, and Leonard could already see blood starting to slip past your fingers.

 

                “Oh _shit_ ,” Leonard gasped, his hand over his mouth in horror, hurrying forward after a moment to see if you were okay.  He dropped to his knees beside you and reached instinctively for your face, but you flinched away from him, gasping as blood began to drip through your fingers and onto your chest, staining your red cadet jacket a darker scarlet.

 

                “I am _so sorry_ ,” Leonard said emphatically, feeling horrible as Jim scrambled around behind you, collecting your books and PADD.

 

                “You punched me!” you gasped, still shocked by the unexpected blow and the pain pounding through your face.   The blood pouring out of your nose was making you feel panicky and a bit faint, and you groaned as you fruitlessly tried to stop the flow with your hands.

 

                “I didn’t mean to!” Leonard hovered, wanting to take over the situation but clearly unwilling to touch you when you were leaning away from him.  “Jim, go get a med pack, now!”

 

                You heard, rather than saw Jim sprint off back towards the building you’d all just left a few minutes earlier and moaned softly, your nose throbbing painfully.

 

                “Please, lean forward,” Leonard told you anxiously, and you could tell from his tone of voice that he felt extremely bad for what he’d done.  “The fastest way to get the blood to stop is to lean forward and pinch the bridge of your nose.”  

 

                You whimpered but decided to listen to him, the pain and nasty feeling of the gushing blood overriding your indignation of him hitting you for now.  You shuffled so you were sitting properly with your legs open in a V-shape in front of you, knees partway up and leaning forward as best as you could.  You reach up with a bloody hand and pinch the bridge of your nose as instructed, gasping in pain as you do so.

 

                “I know it hurts, you’re doing really well though,” Leonard said reassuringly.  He reached out hesitantly and put his hand on your shoulder, trying to comfort you, and when you didn’t protest, he rubbed your upper back gently, hoping to soothe.   “I am so sorry,” he said again, and you could hear the guilt in his voice, clear as day.  You shrugged, unwilling to forgive him immediately, but also not wanting him to feel so badly; you were sure it had been an accident.

 

                “You’re in my physiology class. You sit in front of me, right?” Leonard asked after a minute, still with a reassuring hand on your upper back.  You gave a small nod, ceasing the motion almost immediately as it made your nose sear with pain, making you whimper again.

 

                There was a pounding of feet nearby as you watched Jim’s shoes come back into view and you could hear him huffing and puffing as he wordlessly handed Leonard the med pack he was holding, clutching a stitch in his side once Leonard had taken it.  Leonard quickly dug around in the pack and came up with a couple of handfuls of gauze, which he held out to you.  

 

                You clumsily took the gauze from him in your free hand and pressed it gingerly to the underside of your nose, soaking up the blood that was still flowing but had slowed considerably.  You spat out the blood that had made its way into your mouth into the gauze and tried to mop up the lower part of your face.  Unfortunately, there was far too much blood to clean without a sink, and all you managed to do was smear it around, the feeling of which made you shudder.

 

                “Can I take that gauze?” Leonard asked you after a moment, and you glanced up at him miserably.  “I have some fresh ones ready here.”   You carefully peeled the gauze away from your face, some of it already sticking in the drying blood, and shakily held it out to him.  He took the blood-soaked gauze in a gloved hand and put it into a plastic baggie, then handed you the bundle of fresh gauze.  The blood had finally slowed to a trickle and you dabbed at it delicately, wincing at the twinges of pain that shot through your face at every touch.  

 

                Leonard was shuffling around, digging through the med pack again, and a moment later he approached you with an ice pack.

 

                “May I?” he asked, leaning in closer, clearly intent on applying the ice pack himself.  You flinched away before you could help it, not wanting his hands near your face again so soon, and saw a flicker of hurt in his eyes as he realized you didn’t trust him.  Attempting to avoid an awkward moment, you carefully unpinched your nose, reached out and took the ice pack from him.

 

                “Thanks, I’ve got it,” you say, carefully bringing it up to the bridge of your nose and placing it down.  You let out a small whine as the initial contact brings pain, but quite quickly the chill sinks down into your nose and begins to soothe some of the agony, and you sigh in relief.  As the pain began to fade, you glanced up at Leonard, who was kneeling immediately beside you, watching you intently, and Jim, who was hovering nearby, holding your things.   You sigh and drop your gaze back down, trying to focus on how the chill of the ice was numbing your face, which, while uncomfortable in its own right, was still preferable to the pain.

 

                “I think the bleeding stopped,” you said after a few minutes, your voice sounding like you had a bad head cold.

 

                “Oh, good,” Leonard said, leaning a little closer.  “Can I see?”   You reluctantly pulled the ice pack off of your face and raised your head a bit so that he could briefly examine you.  “I think you’re right, it looks like it’s stopped.”

 

                “Good.  I want to get out of here,” you said, positioning yourself so you could stand.  You were well aware that people were staring at you and clearly wondering what had happened, and you knew you must’ve looked horrifying with blood all down your face and neck, a pile of red-stained gauze beside you.  Jim was trying to get people to move along when they slowed down to either gawk or offer help, but you could still feel many pairs of eyes on you and were feeling extremely keen to get away from everyone.

 

                Leonard stood and held out a hand to you, but you were already scrambling to your feet and don’t take his offer.   You got upright fairly quickly and easily, but once you were standing you felt  a wave of dizziness wash over you and you wavered on the spot, feeling like the world was spinning a little faster than normal.  Clearly seeing this, Leonard reached out and gently grabbed your upper arm, holding you steady so you wouldn’t fall over again.   After a moment the dizziness mostly passed and you nodded at him to indicate that you were alright.

 

                “Are you sure?” he asked, reluctant to let go just yet.  “You look very pale.” You pulled on your coat to settle it properly and glanced down, noticing the large puddle of blood on your chest and feeling another wave of dizziness wash over you, this time more to do with your queasiness around blood than anything.

 

                “I’m guessing that has something to do with the paleness,” you said, gesturing vaguely at and quickly averting your eyes from the stain, feeling your stomach lurch.  Leonard made a sympathetic face as you took a few deep breaths, then pulled away from him as soon as you felt strong enough to stand on your own.

 

                “If you’re feeling well enough to walk, I’d like to take you to the med centre and get your nose scanned,” Leonard said, gesturing towards the building to your right.  “I want to make sure there isn’t a fracture.”

 

                “I’d really rather go back to my room right now,” you said flatly, the thought of going to the med centre covered in blood and having to be examined an extremely unwelcome thought at the moment.

 

                “Oh, but—” Leonard began, and you held up a hand to silence him.

 

                “I don’t want to go to the medical centre,” you repeated firmly, shaking your head just a little to avoid jarring your injury.  You put the ice pack back on your nose and sigh, then continued.  “I just want to take a couple of ibuprofen and get cleaned up right now.”  Your voice was firm though still congested, and he sighed, clearly not pleased with your decision but wisely deciding not to argue.

 

                “Alright, but at least let me walk you back to your dorm room,” he said.  “I would feel even worse if you fainted or something else happened and I hadn’t made sure you were safe after what I did.”

 

                You fought back the urge to tell him to go away and gave a small nod, then turned and began to slowly walk towards the dorms.  You quickly realized that you couldn’t really hold the ice on your face and walk at the same time without causing more pain, so you trudged along without it, trying to hold in your complaints as the pain began to return as your face warmed up again in the sun.

 

                “Are you sure I can’t convince you to go into the med centre?” Leonard asked as the three of you came level with said building, about to pass it.

 

                “He’s a doctor, after all,” Jim chimed in unhelpfully, and you shot him an annoyed look before declining Leonard’s repeated question.   You ruminated on the thought of Leonard being a doctor for a while, the pain in your face increasing as your mood steadily decreased.

 

                “I thought doctors were supposed to do no harm,” you muttered as your face gave a particularly painful twinge.  You realized too late that you said it a little louder than you’d meant to and Leonard had surely heard you, but you were feeling a little too surly to be sorry just yet, despite knowing that your remark wasn’t fair.   You knew full well what had happened was an accident, but it was hard to feel forgiving when your face was on fire. Leonard didn’t say anything, and the three of you continued on in silence, thankfully moving away from all the prying eyes on the quad.  It took far longer than it should have to get back to the dorm building;  your nose started to bleed again at one point, prompting Leonard to dig through the kit for more gauze.  You leaned back against the building in the scant shade available, holding the ice to your nose until the blood slowed again and then trudged on.

 

                Finally, the three of you arrived at the building and took a turbolift to the fourth floor, the guys insisting on escorting you all the way to your room despite your protests.  You clumsily swiped your ID card to open your door, and stepped into the room.  Leonard and Jim hovered at the door; you sighed slightly and gave a small jerk of the head, inviting them in, regretting the jerking motion as your nose seared again.

 

                “Do you have another ice pack?” Leonard asked as he stepped into the room.

 

                “Yeah, I have a whole first aid kit,” you confirmed, gesturing vaguely towards the bathroom.

 

                “If the pain gets any worse or it doesn’t get any better after a couple of hours, please go to the med centre,” Leonard pleaded, looking worried.

 

                “I will, I will,” you agreed, tossing your ice pack onto your table and standing there facing them, feeling decidedly awkward.  “I’ll take some ibuprofen, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

 

                “Actually, acetaminophen would be better,” Leonard said automatically, unable to get out of doctor mode.  “Ibuprofen has a slight but not completely insignificant chance of thinning the blood, which could make you bleed more.”   You sighed, then gave a small nod to show you understood.

 

                “I’m sure I have some of that somewhere too,” you said, watching as Leonard hovered, unsure, near the doorway, clearly wanting to do more to help but not overstep his boundaries.  “Look, thank you for helping me,” you said, your voice softening slightly.

 

                “I’m just so sorry that this happened in the first place,” Leonard said, a morose tone to his voice.  “I’m an idiot, I should have been paying attention.”

 

                “Accidents happen,” you said, a bit grimly.  “I just want to lie down now though, okay?  I promise I’ll go to the med centre if it feels any worse.”

 

                “Or doesn’t get better.”

 

                “—Or doesn’t get better, yeah.”

 

                Leonard looked like he wanted to insist on taking you there himself, but he seemed to talk himself out of it and gestured to the door so Jim would start heading out.  Jim put your books and PADD down on the table next to your ice pack and gave you a fleeting smile, then left the room.  Leonard stepped halfway out, and then turned to look back at you one more time.

 

                “Sorry again.  See you tomorrow.”

 

                You sighed heavily as Leonard stepped fully out of the room and the door snapped closed behind him.  You ordered your room’s computer to lock the door and hobbled into your bed area, cringing and taking a deep breath to steady yourself.  Standing in front of your mirror, you winced as you took a look;  blood covered the centre of the lower half of your face and all down your neck and on your chest.  Even though your cadet uniform was bright red, the blood was pretty obvious.  You unzipped the jacket and shrugged out of it, tossing it aside for now; it would obviously have to be deep cleaned.  You hurried into the bathroom and filled the sink with warm water, grabbed a washcloth and some soap and began to clean the blood from your skin, scrubbing hard in the places where it had already dried.  You were careful to go very slowly and gingerly around your nose and nostrils, and with some effort, your skin was finally clean.  The water in the sink was stained pinkish red and you drained it, shuddering at the lasting memory of how all that blood had felt on your skin.  The lower part of your face and your neck was bright pink from all the scrubbing, and your nose was hurting more than it did before from the aggravation of cleaning it.

 

                You quickly popped a couple of acetaminophen like he’d told you to, grabbed a second ice pack from the first aid kit and went to lie down on the couch.  You activated the ice pack and settled it over the bridge of your nose with a sigh, lying there and hoping against hope that the pain would fade soon and that the pills would work, lamenting the loss of your excellent mood prior to the incident.

 

                You woke up a few hours later, feeling a bit dazed, and the first thing you noticed was the pain in your face.  The ice pack had slipped off once you’d dozed off and was lying uselessly on the ground beside you.  Your nose and head in general was throbbing and you groaned as you struggled to sit up in the semi-darkness.

 

                “Lights, seventy percent,” you said, then winced and gasped as even that brightness seared your eyes.  “Ow, never mind, lights – forty percent!”  You breathed a sigh as the lights dimmed to a manageable level and you sat there for a moment, collecting your bearings.  According to your comm, it was a good three hours since you’d gotten back to your dorm, and the pain hadn’t receded any.  If anything, it had gotten a bit worse.  Sighing heavily, you decided to take Leonard’s advice and head down to the med centre.

 

                Donning a pair of sunglasses so the bright lights in the hallways didn’t make your headache infinitely worse, you pulled on a clean cadet jacket over your tank top and left your room, heading towards the medical building.  The hallways were fairly empty – everyone was probably off having supper – and you were grateful not to run into anyone as you made your way out of the dorm building.  It was still light outside but the sun was much lower in the sky, and you were able to see through your glasses without much pain.  In no time you were in the medical building and heading down the hallway that lead to the non-emergency clinic, where you sincerely hoped Leonard himself was not working.  It wasn’t that you didn’t think he was a capable doctor; you were just feeling incredibly awkward and also guilty for your comment earlier and didn’t fancy seeing him again so soon.

 

                The waiting room was empty save for one person with their attention devoted to whatever was on their PADD’s screen, and you approached the desk just as a nurse came around the corner.

 

“Oh! Hey you!” Christine Chapel, your across-the-hall dorm neighbour, smiled as she recognized you and came over to the desk.

 

“Hi Chris,” you said, trying to sound nonchalant and like your face wasn’t on fire.

 

“What brings you in today?” she asked, looking at you curiously.  Her eyes had found the bridge of your nose, and her brows knit together.  “What happened to your nose? Why are you wearing sunglasses?”  You sighed and slowly pulled the sunglasses from your face, and your eyes widened slightly as she gasped.

 

“I got hit in the face earlier and I think my nose is broken,” you muttered, slipping the sunglass into a pocket.

 

“What?! Who hit you? Did they get caught?” Chris was instantly indignant and looked angry, and though you appreciated her immediate leap to defend you, it was not necessary.

 

“It was an accident, L- er, someone was gesturing a little wildly on the quad when I was walking by and essentially punched me in the nose,” you explained, deciding to leave Leonard’s name out of it for now.  You’re aware that Christine and Leonard knew and worked with each other here at this very clinic, and you weren’t sure if she would think it was funny or be angry that it had been him.

 

“Well, come in,” Chris said, reaching out a hand to usher you into the clinic.  “I’ll get you settled in a room.”  She grasped the back of your upper arm gently and lead you into one of the nearby rooms, dimming the lights to a comfortable level when she noticed you were squinting.

 

“So, do you know who it was that hit you?” Christine asked as she ran a tricorder over you, getting your vitals.  “Did they stop to help?”

 

“Well, yeah,” you said awkwardly, watching the tricorder to avoid eye contact.  “He felt really bad and brought me back to my room.”

 

“He should have brought you straight here,” Christine said disapprovingly, and you could hear a definite annoyed note in her tone.  “Judging by these bruises and the shape of that nose, you were bleeding a lot.”

 

                “Bruises?” you asked anxiously, realizing you hadn’t taken a look at yourself in the mirror before you’d left.   Christine seemed to understand, and she slipped her comm out of her pocket and turned on the inward facing camera.  Your face appeared on the screen and you gasped in horror at the huge dark splotch across the middle of your face.  It started on either side of the bridge of your nose and spread out in either direction under both of your eyes, and you had a suspicion that it was only the beginning.  You were already dreading waking up in the morning because you were sure you would have two complete black eyes.

 

                “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Christine offered, clearly trying to make you feel better.  You groan and gingerly put your head in your hands, letting out a sigh.

 

                “I knew I should’ve come here right away.  I just wanted to get away from everyone staring at me, but Leonard said I should come here, and—”

 

                “Leonard?” Christine interrupted, her interest piqued.  “Leonard McCoy?  Did he come and help you?”

 

                “I…” you hesitate, then can’t stop a small smile from twitching at the corners of your lips.

 

                “Was he the one that did this?!” Christine asks, aghast, and you can’t help but laugh at the combined horror and amusement on her face.  You nod, and she laughs too, then shakes her head.  “Was he at least apologetic?”

 

                “Oh, yeah,” you confirmed, “he apologized at least four times and sounded incredibly guilty.  He was trying to insist on bringing me here but I refused.”

 

                “Leonard’s a good guy,” Christine nodded, putting away the tricorder and tapping something into her PADD.   She paused, then grinned at you.  “But he’s never going to live this one down.”  You let out a little giggle and she patted you on the leg as she stood up.  “I’ll go get the doctor now sweetie, you just sit tight.”

 

                “It’s… it’s not Leonard is it?” you ask, torn between laughing and crying at the thought.  Christine chuckles and shakes her head, and you sigh with relief as she leaves.  A few minutes later, a cheerful-looking middle aged woman in a lab coat entered the room, looking concerned but amused.

 

                “Hello dear, I’m Dr. Medina,” she told you as she set down her PADD and picked up a light.  “I’m just going to check your pupil response first.”   You flinched as she shone a bright light into each of your eyes, but she was quick and it was over before you knew it.  You took a deep breath and held it as her hands approached your face; she very gently palpated the areas below your eyes, heading back towards your nose.   She finished up and gave you an approving look as you slowly let out your breath and steadied yourself, before she grabbed a larger style of tricorder and ran it over your face.  She let out a small tutting noise and you cringed as you feared the worst, but she smiled at you as she set the tricorder down.

 

                “You just have a very small fracture, _Mija_ ,” Dr. Medina said, putting a reassuring hand on your forearm.  “I can fix that with the osteo-regenerator in just a few minutes.”  You let out a sigh of relief at this pronouncement, grateful that it would be an easy fix.

 

                “Will the pain go away once it’s mended?” You asked, watching her as she opened a drawer and retrieved the instrument.

 

                “Not immediately, but it should start to fade pretty quickly after that,” she told you, adjusting the settings on the regenerator.  “And I’ll give you some pain medication to help.”   You smiled thankfully and lay down when she gestured to do so, centering the small pillow under your head.  You closed your eyes as she began to run the instrument over your nose and cheekbones, wincing slightly at the uncomfortably warm feeling it produced.

 

                “So, I heard that our Leonard did this,” the doctor commented after a moment of silence, and you could hear the amusement in her voice.  You held back a combined laugh and sigh; clearly Christine was already telling everyone.

 

                “Yeah,” you said as she withdrew the device, finished with the mending process.  She urged you to stay lying down as you made to sit up, so you lay still.  “It was Leonard.  It was an accident though, he was being a little too animated with his hands and not paying attention and I got in the way.”

 

                The doctor made another little tutting noise and looked down at you with a twinkle in her eyes as she spoke again.

 

“Would you like me to have a sit-down with him?  We could have a nice long chat about not harming others.”  You were pretty sure she was joking, but just in case, you shook your head, eyes widening slightly.

 

“No, no, he already feels really bad, that’s okay,” you said hastily, and the doctor smiled at you again.

 

“Alright, _Mija_ , I’ll let him off this time.  But you just let me know if you see him behaving badly again,” Dr. Medina said in a conspiratorial voice with a wink, and you laughed, nodding.

 

                “I promise,” you agreed, smiling.

 

                “I sent a pain killer prescription to your PADD, go get it filled and go back to your room to rest for the rest of the night.  You should be okay to return to classes tomorrow, but if you’re feeling like you can’t handle it, please come back and I will absolutely give you a note.”  The doctor smiled warmly at you and you nodded again, very appreciative of her offer, though hoping you wouldn’t have to use it.

 

                “Thank you so much,” you said as you slipped off the table and gently felt your nose.  It was still extremely tender, but it didn’t sear with pain the moment you touched it anymore, either.

 

                “Get some rest, dear,” she said, patting you on the arm again before leaving the room.

 

                You headed out of the room, intent on talking to Chris again for a minute, but you could see she was with a patient.  You toyed with the idea of waiting, but you really just wanted to crawl into bed, so you hurry off to the small pharmacy next to the clinic, get your prescription and head back to your room, replacing the sunglasses on your face to avoid questions (though some people still looked at you funny).

 

                You popped two of the pills as instructed and collapsed on your couch, flipping open your comm and noticing that you’d missed quite a few messages from friends, some of whom had already found out about the incident.  You dashed off messages to most of them and then sat there, feeling a little floaty as the meds kicked in, the pain fading almost entirely and leaving your face feeling mostly normal for the first time in hours.  You had almost fallen asleep when your comm buzzed and you glanced down at it to see that Leonard was messaging you.

 

_How are you doing?  Did you end up going to the med centre?  If there’s anything I can do to help you out, please let me know.  I’m really sorry, again._

 

                You smiled at the message, feeling a far warmer towards Leonard now than you had in the shock and pain of the moment.  You thought about what you wanted to say for a moment, then replied:

 

                _I’m okay.  Yeah, I went to the med centre.  They gave me pain meds.  I had a small fracture but the doctor fixed it really easily.  I feel way better now that I took the meds.  Don’t be sorry, I know it was an accident.  Thank you for taking care of me after it happened._

 

                You considered warning him that he might get an earful and some teasing next time he had a shift, but you decided to let him find that you for himself, chuckling at the thought.  You were starting to feel really sleepy so you grudgingly hauled yourself off the couch and got ready for bed, looking at your comm again once you were lying down, snug in your blankets.

 

                _I’m glad you got it fixed.  Don’t thank me, it was the least I could do after I caused the damn injury in the first place.  I hope you feel better tomorrow.  See you in class?_

 

                You tried to text him back, but you had become so drowsy that the comm slipped out of your hand as you drifted into sleep.

 

                The next morning, you woke up just before your alarm would have gone off, which was lucky, because in the unusual events of the previous day, you’d forgotten to set it.  You groaned at the dull pounding ache in your head and pulled yourself out of bed, stopping only to pop two more of the pain pills before dragging yourself to the bathroom.  You stopped short and stared in horror at your reflection as you approached the mirror, closing your eyes for a moment and then looking again.  It was as you’d feared;  you had two big shiners, a mottled dark purple and blue, around both of your eyes.  Groaning, you leaned closer to the mirror and touched the bruising gently, wondering if you’d be able to cover them with makeup, but you weren’t keen on slathering that much foundation right around your eyes.  Sighing, you resigned yourself to a day full of stares and questions about what had happened, and got yourself ready to go.

 

                Twenty minutes or so before your first lecture was due to start, there was a knock on your door.  Your head popped out from the tank top you were pulling over your head and you frowned, wondering who it was.

 

                “Just a minute!” you called, tucking in your tank and pulling on your jacket.  Since you were ready to go anyway, you grabbed your backpack, shouldered it and decided to head out instead of letting whoever it was in.   You opened the door to see Leonard standing there, holding a small paper bag and looking a bit worried.  His eyes widened when his gaze settled on your face, and you could see a strong flash of guilt in his eyes.

 

                “It’s fine, it looks worse than it is,” you said hurriedly, trying to cut him off before he could start apologizing again.  “It doesn’t hurt nearly as much as before, I just look like a raccoon,” you said ruefully, letting out a small laugh.

 

                “I’m so—” he began, but you shook your head, cutting him off.

 

                “Leonard you’ve apologized plenty, I know it was an accident.” You paused, remembering how you’d muttered at him on the way back to the dorms.  “I’m sorry about what I said.  About not doing harm.  That was uncalled for.”   Leonard shrugged, and you could see that he still looked guilty, but he refrained from apologizing again.   There was a bit of awkward silence as you stepped out of your room and the door closed behind you.  After a moment, he held up the paper bag he was carrying, then held it out to you.

 

                “I brought you breakfast.  I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a chocolate chip muffin and a carrot muffin.”

 

                You took the bag from him and peered inside, feeling your stomach rumble as the wonderful scent of the two muffins filled your nose.

 

                “Mmm, they smell so good.  Thank you,” you said, smiling at him.  He seemed relieved that you hadn’t rejected his offering, and you felt a bit of the tension in the air ease.

 

                “Shall we head to class?” he asked, gesturing in the direction of the exit to the dorm building.  You nod and walk with him, sighing inwardly as, before you could even get down the entire hallway, someone had already spotted you and asked what happened.  You explained as quickly as you could, with Leonard shifting guiltily beside you, and then you moved on.  It happened again at the entrance to the dorm building, just as you were leaving.

 

                Thrice, outside, people stopped you and asked in horror what had happened.  You were starting to get tired of explaining and eager to get to class, so you and Leonard picked up the pace a little, trying to avoid more inquiries.

 

                “Oh my god, what happened?” Another voice rang out as you stepped through the entrance to your lecture’s building and you sighed, closing your eyes slightly as you wonder if this was going to happen every few minutes literally all day long.

 

                “He punched me,” you said jokingly this time, gesturing at Leonard, much to your friend’s shock and Leonard’s dismay.  You hastily explained that you were joking and tell her what really happened, then move on.

 

                “We’re gonna be late for class at this rate,” Leonard said, and you could hear a note of grumpiness in his voice.  You agreed, though; there was only five minutes until your lecture and you still had a still had a flight of stairs and hallway to get down.   You hurry up the stairs with Leonard immediately behind you and power-walk down the hallway, trying to avoid people’s eyes and keenly aware that nearly everyone passing you in the opposite direction was staring.

 

                “What happened?!”

 

                You groan as, just feet from your classroom door, another friend catches sight of you.

 

                “He did it,” you said, pointing at Leonard before grinning and hurrying the last few steps into the class.   Leonard didn’t come into the classroom until you had already sat down and taken out your PADD, and he looked grumpier than ever as he sat down heavily in his seat.

 

                “Can you please not imply that I did it on purpose?” Leonard grumbled at you, and you turned around to grin at him.

 

                “Oh come on, can’t I have a little bit of fun?”  You asked innocently, and he shot you a dark look.  “You asked if there was anything you could do to help; allowing me to laugh about it helps.”

 

                “How about instead of destroying my reputation, I make it up to you some other way?”  You put on a thoughtful expression, then gesture at him to go on.   “How about dinner on Friday night?  We could try that new place that just opened up nearby.”

 

                You stare at him for a moment, surprised by the sudden change of events.  You hadn’t expected him to ask you out, but it certainly wasn’t an unappealing offer.  You smiled after a moment, and nodded a little.

 

                “I think I’d like that,” you said softly, dropping the gently mocking tone you’d used before.  “Agreed.”

 

                Leonard was about to say something else, a small smile coming over his face, when the professor began to speak, calling the class to order.  You swivelled around in your chair to face the front, glancing down at your PADD as a message window popped up a moment later.

 

                _Does 7pm on Friday work for you?_

 

                You smiled and typed an affirmative message, then you just couldn’t resist adding one more thing, as you thought about why all this had happened in the first place.

 

_Sounds good.  And by the way, Leonard – I got a perfect score on that midterm;  I could help you study, if you’d like. ;)_

 

                A moment later you heard a little grunt of what sounded like both annoyance and laughter from behind you and you grinned as you began taking notes for the class, thinking about how it was nice that even though your nose had been broken and your face had felt like it was on fire, something good had definitely come out of it all.

 


End file.
